MOMENTUM
By Charles Dye
(author of "Time Killer")
Just because an event "has to" happen,
some people think that, of course, it
will happen. It ain't necessarily so!
Ballard had but a few hours to solve
the problem, and he knew that the
answer was there, before his eyes—if
he could see it in time!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Future combined with Science Fiction Stories July 1951.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Asteroid 1207 came spinning into the auxiliary ship's viewplate like a glittering black mirage. The eight-mile chunk of rock was the last link in a chain of nine asteroid navigational-markers still needing blinker equipment installation. Minutes later, the Minnow lay neatly berthed in the deepest hollow of the asteroid, the shining wires of its drill grapples anchoring it firmly to the jagged rock. The airlock opened and two men in spacesuits stepped out. They climbed to the top of the nearest hill dragging a platform of tools and equipment; the ragged, close horizons of the asteroid made a hostile background for them as they worked in silence.